Liability:
Inclusion in the Service Directories does not imply endorsement of an organization or its individual programs or services, nor does omission reflect disapproval.

Blanket declaration:
Trilogy/Network of Care reserves the right to exclude from its database any organization that it has adequate reason to believe may spread hatred or have a philosophy that could be hurtful to the well-being of individuals, groups or the community as a whole. Potential grounds for exclusion or removal from the database may include, but are not limited to, service non-delivery, fraud, misrepresentation, discrimination, or criminal activities.

Guidelines for Inclusion:

The primary focus should be on the information that details critical services for the most vulnerable people. Agencies that provide these services should be prioritized and listed. The demographic trends of the region will suggest certain listings, for example if it has a large proportion of homeless, aging or immigrant populations.

Inclusion criteria may differ from product to product and from region to region. It will depend on the focus of the needs of the target user group, the population density, and the expanse of the region covered. For example, the NOC for Veterans product will include Veterans Benefits Services and Veteran/Military Health Insurance, where the Developmental Disabilities product probably will not. Rural areas will have fewer listings while entire states will be more comprehensive. Note that rural area service directories may differ from urban area service directories because agencies not pertinent to include for cities may be few and far between in sparsely populated regions. For example, listing plumbing and veterinary services for a rural area could provide the solution to a possible emergency situation.

Where known, services routinely inquired about by the community should be included. A community's unmet needs or service gaps should be identified and agencies that provide or refer those services should be included.

If the Service Directory includes political cause and issue-oriented action groups, the directory should achieve balance, i.e., it should include organizations that represent all sides of the issue. For example, it would include both pro-choice and pro-life agencies.

Per AIRS 2014 survey results and per targeting realistic maintenance size, "the average I&R resource database serves a population of around 1.4 million and contains around 1,253 organizational records".

Service Directories should generally include:

Organizations that address the fundamental needs of all the people in the target community.

For-profit organizations that are either providing important human services or are licensed by a government authority to provide a particular service.

Organizations that serve the geographic area covered by the database (even though not all of them will be located within the geographic area).

Government and nonprofit agencies that provide human services relevant to individuals and families in the target population.

Mutual support groups (self-help groups) that may not always be incorporated but serve a valuable purpose.

Services that meet the previous criteria and are provided for free or for a low cost or according to a sliding scale geared to income.

Services that meet the previous criteria and have demonstrated some stability within the community (for example, they recently received government or United Way funding, are accountable to the community through a volunteer Board of Directors and have been in operation for at least 1 year).

Guidelines for Exclusion:

If a program does not expressly meet the inclusion criteria, it is therefore excluded.

Listings supplied by the client that have too little information to verify the existence of the agency, for example only a vague name and description given, may be omitted if further information cannot be provided.

Service Directories will exclude:

Organizations that engage in fraudulent, discriminatory or illegal activities.

Organizations that misrepresent their services in any way (for example, an organization may claim to be providing youth counseling, but on closer examination it is discovered they are primarily concerned with securing members for cult-like purposes).

Service Directories may exclude:

Organizations that provide services only to their own members
(for example, a faith community that only provides food or clothing to its own congregation).

Practitioners and institutions who are too numerous, particularly if there is a referral service or a head or district office available, which may include the following: